PennLive ran this photo of Alexus Miller-Wigfall with its prom coverage of students arriving on the red carpet at the event.

Harrisburg SciTech senior Alexus Miller- Wigfall was told Tuesday by school officials that she would have to serve in-school suspension for wearing a prom dress that was too revealing. Prom was Saturday night.

Alexus' mother provided this close-up photo, showing the top of the dress. Her mother, Alisha Sneed, didn't think the dress revealed too much.

Students must submit photos of prom dresses in advance for approval. This was one of two photos Alexus submitted in advance of prom.

After Alexus' dress was rejected by school officials prior to prom for showing too much cleavage, Alexus added fabric to the front. But the fix made the dress look bad, according to her mother. Instead, her mother directed the dressmaker to sew up the top of the dress to reveal less cleavage.

Despite fixing her dress before prom, school officials told Alexus Miller Wigfall that it was too revealing. School officials told her Tuesday she would have to serve in-school suspension.

Alisha Sneed jumped through several hoops last week to get her daughter's red, floor-length dress approved for the
Harrisburg High School prom
Saturday night.

But three days after the event, school officials slapped a one-day suspension on her daughter, Alexus Miller-Wigfall, telling her that her dress had been too revealing.

"I couldn't believe it," Sneed said. "I don't see anything wrong with that dress. What do they want her to wear, a turtleneck?"

Sneed said she believes school officials at SciTech zeroed in on her daughter because she's "plus-sized" and "not flat-chested."

Alexus, who plans to graduate next month, said the assistant principal told her as much Tuesday.

"She said, 'You have more boobs than other girls," Alexus said. "'The other girls have less to show.'"

Sneed tried without success on Tuesday to find out from school officials exactly what was wrong with the dress or how many other girls were suspended. When Sneed continued to visit and call the school Wednesday, the principal stood by the decision to suspend Alexus, Sneed said.

But later on Wednesday, after PennLive reached out to district officials, a counselor relayed information to Sneed that her daughter would no longer have to serve the suspension.

The counselor provided no details, Sneed said. District officials refused to answer questions from PennLive Wednesday, but instead provided a copy of prom attire guidelines and a statement that said they expect students to abide by the guidelines.

Earlier on Wednesday, Kirsten Keys, the district spokeswoman told PennLive that Alexus did not get her dress approved by the school's deadline. Keys said Alexus was the only girl at SciTech who got in trouble for her dress.

Alexus told PennLive she talked briefly Wednesday afternoon to the principal, who mentioned the calls from her mom and the inquiries from PennLive to the district.

"She said she was planning to overturn the suspension," Alexus said. "But she never said it was overturned."

Alexus left school Wednesday with a referral in hand, saying she had to report to in-school suspension on Friday.

The incident began weeks ago as Alexus and her mother designed her dress, Sneed said. She and her daughter added long-sleeves to the design and removed slits from the bottom of the dress, hoping to better comply with the school's restrictions.

Last week, when Alexus emailed a picture of her prom dress to school officials for approval, it was rejected.

Sneed and her daughter then asked the dressmaker to add fabric to the front of the dress. They emailed a photo with the extra fabric to school officials for approval. But the excess fabric ruined the look of the dress, Sneed said. Instead, they asked the dressmaker to reduce the cleavage gap on the front of the dress.

Sneed said she called the principal twice last week to discuss the modification, but never heard back. She told her daughter to go ahead and wear the dress to prom.

On Tuesday, the principal directed the assistant principal to write-up a referral for Alexus to attend a day of in-school suspension. Alexus never had the chance to explain to the principal that she had modified the cleavage of the dress prior to prom.

"I strongly feel there was nothing wrong with her dress," Sneed said. "These are the kind of things we took under consideration when we got the dress made."

Sneed said she attended the red carpet event Saturday, when the students arrived for prom, and that other dresses showed a lot more cleavage than her daughter's dress.

Sneed never got a full explanation of what was wrong with the dress, how many other girls at prom were cited for dress violations or why the principal apparently abruptly changed her mind on Wednesday.

"I was not going to let her serve in-school suspension, because that would have gone on her permanent record," Sneed said, adding that her daughter had been accepted to Lincoln University. "But I'm still angry about how this was handled and what was said to my daughter."

UPDATE
:
This article was updated to add the district's response and a document outlining prom attire guidelines.